Family is Magic
by IlvermornyGradElisa
Summary: Nearly everyone has secrets they long to confide. Diaries are good for that and nearly all girls keep on at some point. But when half your family has magic, the secrets you hide are more serious than crushes and embarrassing mistakes. Especially when you're one of the kids without magic.
1. Practice Essay

**Practice Essay**

Dear Confidant,

You are the most secure diary I have ever had, because no one else knows you are one. Locks, hidden notebooks and invisible ink all shout to the world that they are hiding something. All you tell people is that I am trying to improve my grades by using my essay workbook. Unless, of course, one reads the third word of every sentence.

This method is loads of work but it's worth it. I'm not just keeping secrets from my nosey little brother. I am keeping secrets from the rest of the _world_.


	2. Describe Your Family

**Describe Your Family**

My dad is a wizard. So is my brother. My mum doesn't have magic. I don't either. It's a little like living in a multicultural family except Mum and Dad grew up in the same town. But the magical world _is_ its own culture, and the rest of the world doesn't always mesh well with it.


	3. Full Essay-Describe Your Family

**Authors Note:** _Writing a good essay and writing in code is beyond Alice's abilities right now. But her excuse for using her essay workbook is that she really needs the practice so it works for her. Hopefully her skill-and mine-will improve. _

**Describe Your Family-Full Version**

I'm Alice. This is my nth assignment to describe my family so I'll change the order a bit. Alex, Mum, Dad and I live in the Stellar Forest. Our house is in a clearing in Lunar Valley. It is a mile and a half from the regional observatory. Mr. Jone's a wizard with astronomy equipment and he runs the observatory. There is so much to do, however, that even though he literally lives at the observatory, he has several full time assistants and sometimes he hires me to do errand runs. Living here is nice.

It is my opinion that astronomy is the coolest job there is. My little brother doesn't agree with me but Mum does. I suspect Mum is biased since she is one of the astronomers who work at the observatory but that doesn't mean she's wrong!

True, Alex doesn't think so but he knows better than to tell Mum that. If I have to win on a technicality, well, it's still a win. Stars are magic, we all agree on that. Mum and I like the heavens the most but our entire family loves them.

"Do or don't" is Mum's favorite phrase. It means either "act or don't act" or "like it or don't like it" depending on how you use it. Mum thinks it's wishy washy to be anything less than decisive. To make a choice of either action or preference and then stick to it, that's her attitude toward everything. Take a little time to be fully informed and what your options are, of course. She doesn't like decisions made in ignorance. A lifetime living with scientist drives home how much trouble assumptions and misinformation can be. But being in doubt of your own convictions is just as dangerous. To make a decision and fail to act on it is as bad or worse than never making a choice at all. Dad's a multicultural traveler but he says he's never met anyone as steady and reliable as Mum.

When Dad's home he does stuff around the house and helps us with homework or plays with us. It's great, except for the times Mum and Dad get too sappy. On holidays Mum and us kids come along on Dad's trips. It's fun and always interesting even when Dad is busy. That's because Dad is an "Acquisitions Expert!" and visits suppliers all over the world.

Mum's flowers grew only in Uganda before Dad brought her seedlings for her greenhouse. Look them up if you don't believe me. Don't go in the greenhouse without permission though, because it's very carefully climate controlled and some of the plants are really delicate.

Anyway, that's the up's and downs of Dad's job. Never the same kind of vacation or gift twice but we don't see him as often as we would like.

Going to town to visit Aunt Jane puts time apart in perspective, since Uncle Terrence is in the navy and gone half of every year. It's hard but they make it work. She says the time apart makes them appreciate each other more. The almost magical reunion they have at the end of every deployment means this is probably true. For them. Seeing the world can't make up for being gone that long, even if saving the world the way Uncle Terrence does is a decent excuse. Dad's limit is two or three weeks away at a time. Patience is its own reward but I'm pretty sure Aunt Jane is a saint if she can wait patiently for months on end before seeing her husband. On his own Dad could travel for years but he can't stand to be away from Mom more than he already is and she isn't a patient as Aunt Jane either. Visiting another culture is only fun until you miss your own anyway, so them being impatient isn't that bad. Honestly, Alex and I aren't the best at waiting for things we want so it's not like I can talk. That's probably the reason we all travel with Dad whenever we can.

Right, the rest of my family should at least be mentioned too. For those of us in the Stellar Forest region, there's Mum and Dad, Alex and I, Aunt Jane and Uncle Terrence, Grandma and Grandpa Jacobs (Dad's parents). Let's see, the rest of Dad's relatives live far from the Stellar Forest. The entire world is their home and they all travel to much to keep track of. Mum's family doesn't move for anything short of their house falling into the sea (that's the only reason Great Uncle Albert doesn't live in Cardiff anymore) so Grandma Alice still lives in Riverton, across town from Aunt Jane.

Grandma has always been one of my favorite people. She knits mesh purses and makes cookies and tells stories about being a nurse in World War II. Some people, well, they're still scared of her because she was the kind of nurse who you listened to or else. She dealt with the very worst patients and more of them got better than anyone could hope to expect. Oh, that's it for the family I am willing to describe (I mentioned Alex, that should be good enough, who really wants to hear about bratty little brothers anyway?) so that's the end of this essay.


	4. Favorite Musician

**Favorite Musician**

Wizards think not having magic is like being crippled. For me, it's more like being tone deaf in a family of famous singers. A loss, yes, but only tragic if your only dream is to be a singer. There are other dreams.


	5. School

School

Parents with magic homeschool their kids until they can keep secrets. After that they go to either a special boarding school or a normal secondary school. I go to Riverton High but Alex starts boarding school this fall.

He's thrilled, everyone is, but I feel a bit torn. He's going where I can't, to do things I never will, in the heart of a world I stand on the edges of. Then again, Dad and Uncle Terrance go off in similar situations all the time but we can count on them when we need them and the whole family is still really close knit.

Besides, Alex won't let something a petty as hundreds of miles and limited communications keep him from driving me nuts, nor will anything on the planet stop me from looking out for my baby brother.


End file.
